Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Update on elections in Burma

Baroness Anelay of St Johns: My right Honourable Friend, the Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Hugo Swire), has made the following written Ministerial statement:I would like to take the opportunity to update the House on the outcome of the recent elections in Burma.National and regional parliamentary elections took place in Burma on 8 November. Official statements from international observers paint a positive picture and suggest that election day passed in a calm and orderly manner. These landmark elections are an important step towards democracy, and a victory for the people of Burma. This is the first time in over 50 years that they have had the opportunity to choose their parliamentary representatives, and to make their voices heard in support of democratic change.The general good conduct of the election is also a credit to the current Burmese government and the Union Election Commission. The dignified manner in which the result has been accepted by the governing Union Solidarity and Development Party is also commendable. Of course the process was not perfect - it was inevitable that there will have been flaws and complaints. It is important that these are properly investigated through official mechanisms.The UK has supported this technical process throughout. This support has included, amongst other things, allocating £2.7m to provide specialist technical advice to the Union Election Commission (through the International Foundation for Electoral Systems), £1.5m to train 5,000 domestic observers, and £400,000 to provide international best practice on security planning, focusing on communication and community engagement. Embassy staff from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Department for International Development, Ministry of Defence and UKTI took part in the observation of the preparations for voting and election day itself.The next stages, including a peaceful and orderly transition to a new government, will not necessarily be easy. There is a lengthy interregnum before, constitutionally, newly elected parliamentarians convene in February to choose a President. The President should, in turn, form a government in March. During this period we call on all sides to engage in a spirit of openness and dialogue to manage a peaceful handover of power. The new government will face high expectations and a demanding workload. Building on the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement to achieve a comprehensive sustainable peace and addressing the dire situation of the Rohingya minority in Rakhine will be pressing early concerns. The UK will continue to support the people of Burma in their aspiration for a democratic and accountable government, including those unable to vote in this election. This will include providing practical and material support as well as raising human rights abuses, which remain a significant challenge.


This statement has also been made in the House of Commons: 
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NATO Parliamentary Assembly

Baroness Anelay of St Johns: My right Honourable Friend, the Secretary for State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Philip Hammond), has made the following written Ministerial statement:The following will represent the United Kingdom at the NATO Parliamentary Assembly:Baroness Adams of CraigieleaRichard Benyon MP (Leader)Lord Campbell of PittenweemMary Creagh MPMartin Docherty MPNigel Dodds MPMike Gapes MPJames Gray MPLord Hamilton of EpsomLord JoplingJack Lopresti MPJason McCartney MPMadeleine Moon MPBaroness Ramsay of CartvaleJamie Reed MPAndrew Rosindell MPAlec Shelbrooke MPBob Stewart MP


This statement has also been made in the House of Commons: 
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Department for Culture, Media and Sport

Education, Youth, Culture and Sport Council

Baroness Neville-Rolfe: My Honourable Friend the Minister of State for Culture and the Digital Economy (Mr Ed Vaizey) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement. The Education, Youth, Culture and Sport Council will take place in Brussels on 24th November. Fiona Hyslop, Scottish Government Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs, will represent the UK at the culture and audiovisual sections, and the Deputy Permanent Representative to the EU, Shan Morgan, will represent the UK at the sport section. Culture and Audiovisual The Council will be invited to adopt draft Council Conclusions on culture in the EU’s external relations with a focus on development cooperation. The UK welcomes these conclusions, which propose the establishment of an ad hoc task group to contribute to the preparation of a concrete, evidence-based, shared and long-term approach to culture and development cooperation.It will then consider draft Council Conclusions prioritising intercultural dialogue in the future work of the Council. This would involve the establishment of an expert group to take stock of existing policies on intercultural dialogue, with a special focus on the integration of migrants and refugees through the arts and culture: which we welcome.The Council will then have a policy debate on how best to act together against the destruction and illicit trafficking of cultural heritage in conflict areas. In this debate the UK will encourage the European Union to take forward targeted interventions that play to its strengths and areas of competence, and avoid duplication of effort with other bodies. We will also highlight our own efforts in this area.During lunch there will be an informal debate on the importance of digitisation to culture and heritage. The UK will agree that digitisation is a powerful tool which can help deliver many cultural, social, and educational objectives. We will be stressing that to reach its full potential all actors in the sector must be encouraged to develop their own digital strategies without unjustified constraints being imposed by Governments. Sport Turning to the sport sector, the Council is expected to adopt Conclusions on the representation of the EU Member States in the Foundation Board of WADA and the coordination of the EU and its Member States' positions prior to World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) meetings. These Conclusions review the 2011 Resolution and conclude that no change in the current procedure is required.The UK will be invited to adopt the Conclusions following the meeting of the WADA Foundation Board on 17-18 November 2015.Minister for Sport Tracey Crouch has been approved to be one of the EU representatives on the Foundation Board; this is expected to have been ratified at the WADA meeting.The UK is also expected to adopt Council conclusions on the promotion of motor skills, physical, and sport activities for children.The conclusions ask for Member States to consider implementing cross-sectorial policies, with the education, youth and health sectors among others, to promote physical activities and motor skills in early childhood taking into account, in particular, the following recommendations of the Health Education Physical Activity Expert Group.The UK will note that it already has in place physical activity guidelines for infant and children targeting notably policy makers, local authorities, parents, family and wider community, ECEC settings, schools and sport clubs, in collaboration with scientific experts.There will then be a policy debate on the educational potential of sports in helping disadvantaged youth to find their place in society.The UK will look to share examples and best practice from initiatives across our sporting and education landscape. Other Business The EU Commission will present an update on the Regulatory Fitness (REFIT) exercise in the audiovisual sector, and other relevant initiatives of the Digital Single Market strategy.This will be followed by information from the Luxembourg Presidency of the Council on the state of play concerning signing of the Council of Europe’s Convention on the Manipulation of Sports Competitions.There will then be an information point concerning the outcome of recent meetings of the WADA, as well as information from the Presidency on the informal meeting of Ministers for Sport which took place in Luxembourg in July 2015.Finally there will be a presentation from the Netherlands on their work programme and priorities for their forthcoming Presidency of the Council, which will run for six months from January 2016.


This statement has also been made in the House of Commons: 
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